The Noblesse and his Love

Chapter 64

*Rai-Lin*

After we were all done eating, we gathered in the living room to be in each other's presence a while longer. I could tell the little brothers and the nobles were not keen on letting me out of their sight. The little brothers sat in the floor, so I could stretch out on the couch with my head in Raizel's lap. I had begun to get light-headed shortly after we made it into the living room.

Everyone was engaged in their own conversations. The little brothers were talking with Frankie, while the nobles were having a small talk with Raizel. It warmed my heart to see my love interacting with them, but there was something I needed to say.

Clearing my throat, I received all the attention of the room. Even Raizel glanced down at me with confusion. "You know," I started. "This would be a lot easier if I wasn't seeing everyone from a weird angle."

"What do you expect us to do? Contort our bodies so we are at the right angle?" Frankie shot back.

"That would be great," I sobered up. "With all jokes aside, I saw something recently that disturbed me. It came from M's mind."

Everyone stiffened. "Is M okay?" Frankie asked. His lips tugged down in a frown.

"M is fine. Everyone is fine," I assured them. "It's just...when I woke up, I could hear snippets of M's thoughts. I heard my family seeking to comfort him when he blamed himself for what happened."

M cocked his head to the side. "How does that disturb you? I thought you would want us to comfort each other."

"I do. I want you to seek comfort and strength in each other. What disturbed me was the fact you all felt like you failed me. How could you think that way?" I fixed them with a stern gaze.

They all wilted under my stare. It was Tao who spoke first, looking self-conscious. "I don't think we meant to. I think it was just a natural response. I mean, we all started to wonder what if we were stronger. What if we were there sooner? If we had done something different, would you have been hurt? We wanted to think of things we could have done differently, things we could improve upon, so we could prevent this from happening again."

I was quiet for a moment before I said, "You needn't think like that. It isn't your job to protect me or to sacrifice yourself for me. It is my job and mine alone. Not even Raizel should sacrifice himself for me, though he may always protect me within reasonable bounds." I sent him a meaningful glance.

A storm was brewing in Raizel's eyes. "I would gladly sacrifice myself to keep you safe. You are my wife, and I would do anything to keep you alive and well."

I huffed. "While that is appreciated, you are not helping me get my point across."

"I think you got your point across just fine," M growled. The tips of his claws peeked out from his fingers. "You're being a hypocrite. You preach about how it is only your job to protect yourself and that no one should sacrifice themselves for you, yet you go around putting yourself in danger to keep us safe. We have to worry about ourselves and you when we fight because we never know how reckless and stupid you are going to be."

"Stupid?" I spat. "You think that me protecting you is stupid? You know nothing. You have no idea what it is like to spend over 800 years alone. You have no idea what it is like to know that everyone you love is either dead, doesn't remember you, or is missing. You have no idea what it is like to lose everything. You-" I choked as a sudden pain went through my chest. I pressed my hand to my wound as blood began to leak through the bandage. Black dots floated across my vision.

Frankie bustled over to my side. "Rai-Lin, you've over-exerted yourself."

"He needs to know, Frankie. He needs to know that I won't go through that again. I won't watch someone else I love die." My breaths were labored.

M stood up. "I do understand, Rai-Lin, but what you need to understand is that I didn't lose everything because I never had anything to begin with." With that, he walked out of them room.

I struggled to sit up as more blood gushed out of the wound. Raizel's and Frankie's hands held me down. The black dots took up the majority of my vision now. "I need to speak to him. I need to make things right."

"You keep struggling like this, and you won't be doing much of anything for at least another couple days," Frankie snapped as I nearly kicked him in the knee.

Takio and Tao stood up as well. They each placed a hand on my legs to stop my kicking. "We'll talk to him. Just calm down. You're doing more harm than good right now," Tao said.

I slowly stilled as his words pierced through the fog in my mind. "Let him know I love him," I gasped. "And I'm sorry." Then, the darkness took over, and I went limp.